Facing a financial storm, Minnesota’s HCMC hospital, a crucial safety-net, is at risk of closing if a solution isn’t found this legislative session.
MINNEAPOLIS — Krista Steele still remembers the moment her young daughter was burned.
Luna was just 20 months old when she placed both of her palms on a glass fireplace for a few seconds, Steele said. Soon after, blisters formed on the toddler’s hands.
“They transferred us to HCMC,” Steele said.
Steele said she felt helpless when her daughter was admitted to the burn unit at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. But she watched as doctors and nurses treated Luna’s injuries.
“If we didn’t get the care that she had gotten, who knows if she would be able to draw like she loves to do and dance like she likes to do now,” Steele said.
The experience later influenced Steele’s career path.
“I probably wouldn’t have wanted to become a nurse,” she said. “That’s one of the main reasons I did go into nursing, because I want to be like them.”
Now Steele is among patients and health care workers speaking at the Minnesota Capitol, urging lawmakers to help preserve the hospital as it faces growing financial pressure.
Hennepin Healthcare operates HCMC, a major safety-net hospital that serves many uninsured and low-income patients in Minnesota.
“We have to get ready for the financial storm that’s kind of coming and brewing around health care,” said Hennepin County Commissioner and HHS Hospital Board Chair Jeffrey Lunde.
Lunde said the current legislative session could be critical to the hospital’s future.
“The bill will be introduced, and there will be hearings,” Lunde said. “We’ve been working with leaders of both parties. It needs to be a purple vote.”
Hospital leaders and county officials say the system is under increasing strain from reimbursement challenges and rising costs. According to officials, cuts to Medicaid reimbursements could total nearly $2 billion over the next decade.
Hennepin Healthcare has already taken steps to reduce costs. Officials said about 100 employees have been laid off, 100 hospital beds have been eliminated and five programs have been cut.
“This quarter, we had to make up to $50 million of reductions,” Lunde said. “We will still have to make about $100 million of reductions if we’re successful in getting revenue from the state.”
Labor leaders say the financial pressures are also affecting workers.
Union representatives said hiring has slowed, increasing workloads for staff, and contract negotiations have stalled amid the uncertainty.
“We have already experienced years of cuts to wages and benefits,” Nathan Paulsen said, the steward of AFSCME 24. “We fell behind about 9% to inflation over the last few years.”
Workers say they remain committed to caring for patients, including people other health systems may not treat.
“We show up every shift caring for patients that other systems cannot care for or simply turn away,” Paulsen said. “Patients losing access will result in serious strain on the whole health care system in Minnesota.”
“If our hospital were to close, it would be a public health crisis,” said Sarah Franck, union president. “These patients wouldn’t have anywhere to go. It would flood the system everywhere else.”
Commissioner Lunde says in the next week or so, he expects a bill to address HCMC’s finances to be introduced in the state legislature.